ASHLAND — Mallary Gundrum spent much of the regular season in the shadows of her high-profile teammates, but the spotlight has found the sophomore shooting guard in the postseason.
Starting in place of the injured Haylee Baker, Gundrum scored a game-high 18 points and the top-seeded Whippets survived a scare with a 56-52 win over No. 4 Sandusky Perkins in the Division II district semifinals Thursday at Arrow Arena.
The Whippets (25-0) will play Clear Fork for a third time this season at 4 p.m. Saturday for a district title. The third-seeded Colts beat No. 7 Mansfield Senior in Thursday’s late game at Ashland.
Gundrum has taken on a more active role after Baker partially tore a knee ligament late in the regular season. She had six points with two rebounds, two assists and four steals in Shelby’s sectional final victory over Galion and was even better Thursday night.
“I’m just trying to do my best,” Gundrum said. “I am kind of replacing Haylee so I’m trying to live up to her standards.”
Gundrum and freshman teammate Eve Schwemley had arguably the two biggest buckets of the evening after the Whippets allowed a 43-38 lead slip away early in the fourth quarter. The Pirates opened the final period on a 9-2 burst and took a 47-45 lead on a Demi Aaron layup with 5:33 remaining.
Then Schwemley connected on a 3-pointer — her only bucket of the night — to give Shelby a 48-47 lead with 4:38 remaining. On the Whippets’ next possession, Gundrum scored her final bucket of the night via a layup with 4:14 showing to give the Shelby a 50-47 edge.
“Between Eve and Mal, I think they did fantastic jobs today,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “I couldn’t be more proud of those two for stepping up in a really big way.”
Perkins (17-7) moved on top 10-3 to start the game before the Whippets fought back to grab a 16-15 advantage after the first quarter. Shelby pushed the bulge to 30-20 on a Gundrum 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining in the second quarter, but the Pirates trimmed the lead to 32-25 at the half.
The Whippets led by as many as nine points early in the third pperiod after a Demi Hipp layup, but Perkins refused to go away. The Pirates closed the deficit to 43-38 going to the final eight minutes and had the Division II poll champ on the ropes.
“They are good. They have a really, really nice team,” Lantz said of the Pirates. “Sophie (Niese) and Liv (Baker) did a good job of really handling the pressure there at the end.”
Baker and Audi Albert backed Gundrum with 14 points apiece. Hipp had five.
Kate Ulery led Perkins with 11 points. Demi Aaron and Camryn VanVlerah each had nine.
